Dedication of a statue of Demeter and a shrine
created: Transcription (Reynolds).
source date: First to second century
language: ar; en; fr; de; grc; grc-Latn; el; he
availability: Creative Commons licence Attribution UK 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/) All reuse or distribution of this work must contain somewhere a link back to the URL http://inslib.kcl.ac.uk/

Bibliography

[...], 72 (64), pl. XIX, fig. 27, whence [...] 9.164, [...] 324015; [...], B.3.

Κλαυδία Βενόστα Κλαυδίου Καρτισθένους Μελίορος θυγάτηρ τὰν μεγάλαν Δάματραν ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων καὶ τὸν ναὸν

Translation

Claudia Venosta, di Claudio Cartistene Migliore figlia, la (statua della) grande Demetra, a proprie spese e il tempio (consacrò).

Claudia Venusta, daughter of Claudius Kartisthenes Melior, (gave) the great Demeter from her own funds, and the temple.

Kl(audia) Benosta Cl(audia) Venusta, daughter of Kl(audios) Cl(audius) Kartisthenes Melior, (gave) the great Demeter from her own funds, and the temple.

Commentary

Claudia Venusta and her father also figure in C.496, C.456, C.497 and C.498 which record other dedications that she made, almost certainly in this Sanctuary. See further on C.456; but note that for the title of Demeter Venusta retained the Cyrenaican dialect forms.

line 3 for μεγάλη as an epithet of Demeter, see Br. Müller, ΜΕΓΑΣ ΘΕΟΣ (Halle, 1913) f., and for the epithet in general, commentary on C.64. In Callimachus, Hymn to Demeter, 121,ὣς ἁμὶν μεγάλα θεός (at Perseus), it is not used as a cult title. The unusual use of the accusative Δαμάτραν is noteworthy, cf. Epigr. ap. Paus. I.37.2